Santa prepares gifts

THE Santa Shoebox Project is an initiative of the Kidz2Kidz Trust and started in 2006 in Cape Town with 180 Santa Shoeboxes. In the past six years the project has extended to Namibia and more than doubled in size every year, ending with 70 489 gifts in 2011.

Spearheaded by Kidz2Kidz founder Dee Boehmer and coordinated by Irene Pieters, the project is run by a network of volunteers across South Africa and Namibia, each country supporting its own children. The project not only manages the network and distributes the gifts, but also provides content guidelines for each individual gift box to ensure that every child receives an age-appropriate gift. Generally the gifts consist of toiletries, sweets, school supplies, a toy and clothes. People must pledge a box when the website goes live with the recipients’ names around September 1. They should then decorate and fill the individualised shoebox according to the specified guidelines, label the box with the recipient’s name, and deliver the box to the selected drop-off points from where the gifts will be distributed by volunteers. The donor knows the age, first name, gender and care institution of the child the gift was bought for. The target for this year is 100 000 shoeboxes which will be distributed to more than 650 children’s homes, orphanages and child-care facilities, with emphasis on small towns and farming communities in South Africa and Namibia. The drop-off date in Namibia is October 26 and people are asked to bring their shoe boxes to the Windhoek High School where volunteers will accept them. The only registered recipient in Namibia so far is the Nossob Primary School at Gobabis. People who would like to donate a shoebox or serve as volunteers must register online at www.santashoebox.co.za. Those in need of a Christmas present can also go the website and register the children.